WeRead Powered by ReaderPub
The Caddo Indians of Louisiana cover

The Caddo Indians of Louisiana

Chapter 3: INTRODUCTION
By Clarence H. Webb
Open in WeRead

Explore more books like this:

Archaeology & AnthropologyHistory - AmericanHistory - Other

About This Book

A combined archaeological and historical study traces Indigenous occupation of northwestern Louisiana from millennia-old hunter-gatherer camps through the emergence of Caddoan farming communities around A.D. 800–900 and into the historic contact period. It examines settlement patterns concentrated in Red River and tributary valleys, ceramic styles and decorative traditions that allow chronological sequencing, subsistence strategies emphasizing successful river-valley agriculture, and trade and cultural ties with neighboring Southeastern and Plains peoples. The narrative integrates artifact typologies, site interpretations, and ethnohistoric sources to reconstruct village life, ritual practices, and long-term cultural change revealed by excavation and survey.

INTRODUCTION

Northwestern Louisiana was occupied by the Caddo Indians during the period of early Spanish, French, and American contacts. By combining history and archaeology, the Caddo story can be traced back for a thousand years—a unique opportunity made possible by a long tradition of distinctive traits, especially in pottery forms and decorations. Our story of the Caddo Indians in Louisiana, therefore, begins around A.D. 800-900 and can be traced by archaeology well into the historic period.

The center of Caddoan occupation during contact times and throughout their prehistoric development was along Red River and its tributaries, with extensions to other river valleys in the four-state area of northern Louisiana, southwestern Arkansas, eastern Texas, and eastern Oklahoma. The successful agriculture of these farming peoples was best adapted to the fertile valleys of major streams like the Red, Sabine, Angelina, Ouachita and—in Oklahoma—the Canadian and Arkansas rivers.

In spite of their linguistic (language) connections with Plains tribes like the Wichita, Pawnee, and Arikara, the Caddos in Louisiana had customs much like those of other Southeastern tribes. They maintained trade and cultural contacts with the lower Mississippi Valley tribes of eastern and southern Louisiana for many centuries.